April 29 - Steve Norquist (The Musical Birthday Series, 8th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 29th may be found here: me (2019), me (2020), me (2021), me (2022), me (2023), me (2024), and (2025)

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Steve Norquist (b. 29 April 1954) writes this blog.  He is a musicologist and pianist, and performs obscure, undeservedly forgotten, and just plain odd piano music at his YouTube channel Piano Curiosities with Steve Norquist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time Passing

The calendar worked its way through,

And Steve is now seventy-two;.

He'll continue to make

The egregious mistake

Of writing this birthday review.

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Etiquette

It happens each year at this time,

That I feature MYSELF in a rhyme,

Though they say it's bad manners

To hoist one's own banners,

Or ring one's own clarion chime.

 

 

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Takes: Great Art Repurposed.]  

 

Posts delayed

I have been involved with preparing for performances in my other life as a pianist.  Posts will resume soon.

April 7 - Charles Burney (The Musical Birthday Series, 8th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 7th may be found here: Charles Burney (2019),  Percy Faith (2020), Billie Holiday (2021), Domenico Dragonetti (2022), Ravi Shankar (2023), Percy Faith (2024), and Percy Faith (2025)

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Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) is best remembered for his monumental History of Music, but his usefulness to us is in his detailed consideration of the music of his contemporaries as found in the last volume of his History and in two books of travel observations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memoirs

 

The results of his travels abroad were published in The Present State of Music in France and Italy (1771) and The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands and United Provinces (1773). -- adapted from Wikipedia

Imagine if young Charles Burney

Had decided to be an attorney,

There'd be less to report

From his days in the court,

Than there was on a musical journey.

 

 

 

 

(If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.

 [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Tales: Great Art Repurposed.] 

 

 

April 6 - Hart Pease Danks (The Musical Birthday Series, 8th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 6th may be found here: André Previn (2019), Gheorghe Zamfir (2020), Johann Kuhnau (2021), John Pizzarelli (2022), Johann Kuhnau (2023), Johann Kuhnau (2024), and Leo Robin; Alessandro Rolla (2025)

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Hart Pease Danks (6 April 1834 – 20 November 1903) was an American musician who specialized in composing, singing and leading choral groups. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then and Now

Today we note with dubious thanks

The natal day of Hart Pease Danks,

Who found his fame in days of old

With "Silver Threads Among the Gold,"

A song when sung in yesteryear

Would conjure up a gentle tear.

But now when e'er a silver thread

Appears, unwelcome, on our head,

We're more inclined to keep it quiet

And ask our hair salon to dye it.

 

 

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Takes: Great Art Repurposed.]  

April 5 - Herbert von Karajan (The Musical Birthday Series, 8th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 5th may be found here: Louis Spohr (2019), Agnetha Fältskog (2020), Herbert von Karajan, Sébastien Érard (2022), Albert Roussel (2023), Louis Spohr; John Wilson (2024), and Agnetha Fältskog; Louis Spohr (2025)

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Herbert von Karajan (5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over and Done

Part of the reason for his dominance on the musical scene was the large number of recordings he made and their prominence during his lifetime. By one estimate, he sold 200 million records. – adapted from Wikipedia

Karajan's denazification tribunal, held in Vienna on 15 March 1946, cleared him of illegal activity during the Nazi period. – Wikipedia

Though inglorious shadows were cast

By van Karajan's sinister past,

However iniquitous,

He soon was ubiquitous,

And the past, so it seems, was the past.

 

 

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Takes: Great Art Repurposed.]  

April 4 - Elmer Bernstein (The Musical Birthday Series, 8th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 4th may be found here: Elmer Bernstein (2019), Stephen Storace (2020), Sheku Kanneh-Mason (2021), Pierre Monteux; Eugène Bozza (2022), Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli (2023), Arthur Murray (2024), and Hans Richter (2025)

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Elmer Bernstein (4 April 1922 – 8 August 2004) was a hugely prolific and successful film composer and conductor.  His credits include over 150 films (The Tenth Commandments, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ghostbusters, Animal House), many TV shows, and Broadway musicals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On and On

In total, Bernstein wrote 2½ hours of music for The Ten Commandments, which proved a massive hit and cemented his status as a top score composer. – Wikipedia

A film by Cecil B. DeMille

Has quite a lot of time to fill,

And Elmer Bernstein showed his powers

By backgrounding those epic hours.

 

 

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Takes: Great Art Repurposed.]